BSA censures TV1 over false fraud claim

TV One News breached broadcasting standards when it wrongly identified an Auckland bar as having been targeted by fraud.

The Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) found TV One did not make reasonable efforts to check that the news item, which reported that four men had been accused of eftpos "skimming" scam and named Brooklyn Bar as a "victim" of the scam, was accurate.

The item ran in April last year and included an interview with a customer who said he and his friends "had [their bank accounts] cleared out" at the bar.

Bar owner Hemi Whyte said the item was inaccurate and unfair because it labelled the bar as "unsafe" even though it had not been involved in the scam at all. He felt the report was detrimental to the bar's reputation.

The BSA upheld his complaint and found the item was wrong to single out Brooklyn Bar, giving the impression the business did not have sufficient security measures to protect customers.

The portrayal was misleading and unfair and the complainant was not given the opportunity to comment and correct the information, it found.

"If Mr Whyte had been given a reasonable opportunity to comment, he would have informed One News that his business had not been targeted at all. Where an intended broadcast is likely to cause harm to a person's business reputation and consequently their financial interests, that person should be given a fair and reasonable opportunity to mitigate the harm by providing comment on the claims that are to be made against them."